I’m back in the kitchen. AGAIN!

So, I roasted some pig butt this weekend for pulled pork. My own recipe because I know what I’m doing y’all! Make my own rub and everything. One might think this would please my mister. Instead he complained that we had no buns and he would have to eat it the “poor” way with sandwich bread. He is no neglected.

So yesterday I made kaiser rolls from the Cook’s Illustrated cookbook, “Bread Illustrated”. Kaiser rolls traditionally have poppy seeds on them. [Side note: What’s the point of Poppy Seeds? Do they serve a flavor function? I can’t detect much flavor at all. They get stuck in your teeth. They apparently make your blood test positive for opiates. So really, what’s the point? Plus, most of them end up everywhere BUT your mouth.] Needless to say, I did not have any on hand so I used sesame seeds instead.

Flavor-wise, they’re okay. I didn’t have any Instant Yeast. Now I understand why my Active Yeast didn’t substitute measure-for-measure. I should have researched how to substitute but I didn’t and therefore they didn’t have enough flour and rose too quickly and the dough was too sticky. I should have known better but I was trying to stick to the recipe. Oh well, whose bread comes out perfectly the first time? Mine rarely does. They did taste okay and my husband didn’t seem to notice the difference. His palate isn’t quite as refined as Thomas Kellers.

They did look fairly pretty. Proper flour/yeast proportion would have made them tighter and more soft inside.

Sesame Kaiser Rolls

On a completely different subject. My friend Linda Fay was gracious enough to take some photographs of my and my cat, Joe. Yes, I am that lady. I love my Joe. He’s 18 and grumpy and was not having it. Lesson? Don’t try to force a cat to be a model. He just won’t cooperate.